All our actions are determined directly or indirectly by the views we have on life and its nature. Those who believe that there is no life after death would be interested only in the material things of this world. Their concept of success and failure totally differs from someone who believes and hopes for life after death. Accordingly, two kinds of value systems rule the lives of those who profess them. As a result, their views on happiness in life too vary substantially. Jesus said that the children of this world are smarter (street-smartness) than the children of light ( Luke, 16:8).The reason for the same is that the former are ruled by apparent values that do not require any self-control, whereas the latter are governed by real values reaching upto the Kingdom of God.
Jesus told the people a parable about the Kingdom of Heaven (Kingdom of God) that clearly brings out various attitudes and reactions of people when invited to enjoy a sumptuous wedding feast. Gospels according to Matthew (Ch., 22:1-14) and Luke (Ch., 14:15-24) report about the feast prepared for the invitees. Since the invitees were preoccupied with their own ways of enjoyment of life and declined the invitation, all types of people who were willing to take part in the feast were brought in. Those who were formerly and formally invited proved themselves to be unworthy for the enjoyment provided freely by the host at the dinner. On the contrary, those who were brought in at short notice did not cling to their preoccupations and pre-plans having understood the significance of the occasion that melted away all their petty concerns. Their minds were open to the invitation that was unexpected because they were not unduly attached to their own concerns. The first group of invitees exemplifies what happens to the people who do not believe in life after death as their minds are closed to the confines of this world alone.
Those whose minds are not closed and are willing to consider the possibility of an after life, a whole world opens up before them. Being open to wider possibilities, their lives are set to be transformed reaching out to unlimited dimensions. The transformation and consequent perfect happiness start in this very life before its completion in the after life. On the contrary, those who repose their hope only in this world are limited by sheer finiteness and transitoriness that are characteristics of the present world.
There is a detail added in Matthew's Gospel about a person at the feast without wedding clothes. It was a wedding feast of the king's son. When the king came to inspect the guests, he ws surprised that a person without the wedding clothes was able to enter the venue and asked him how he got in there without those special clothes. He was ordered out and thrown into the darkness outside of misery and unhappiness.
This detail is surprising in many ways. He was among those who were broght into fill the empty places in the king's palace because the formally invited guests refused to turn up. In a sense, he was forcefully brought in for the happiness of the king and his son and was ejected as he was not attired in wedding clothes. At such a short notice, how did the others manage to find the wedding clothes? Some interpreters say that the clothes were provided at the gate free and this one might have scaled the wall in a hurry to get in! The wedding clothes represent God's graces freely given to everyone.We have to only humbly accept them and order our lives accordingly for attaining perfect happiness. Again, the king seems to have gone overboard in punishing the person mercilessly who was brought in for the sake of the king's happiness.
The solution to the above problems need not be sought in particular interpretations of the texts in each detail.The intended effect of the parable is cumulative to induce its shock-value for greater truths. It should be seen in the wider contexts of the two world-views, for example, of those who believe in the after life and those who don't. Perfect happiness reaching out to eternity as against sought after happiness bounded by the confines of this world!
Jesus told the people a parable about the Kingdom of Heaven (Kingdom of God) that clearly brings out various attitudes and reactions of people when invited to enjoy a sumptuous wedding feast. Gospels according to Matthew (Ch., 22:1-14) and Luke (Ch., 14:15-24) report about the feast prepared for the invitees. Since the invitees were preoccupied with their own ways of enjoyment of life and declined the invitation, all types of people who were willing to take part in the feast were brought in. Those who were formerly and formally invited proved themselves to be unworthy for the enjoyment provided freely by the host at the dinner. On the contrary, those who were brought in at short notice did not cling to their preoccupations and pre-plans having understood the significance of the occasion that melted away all their petty concerns. Their minds were open to the invitation that was unexpected because they were not unduly attached to their own concerns. The first group of invitees exemplifies what happens to the people who do not believe in life after death as their minds are closed to the confines of this world alone.
Those whose minds are not closed and are willing to consider the possibility of an after life, a whole world opens up before them. Being open to wider possibilities, their lives are set to be transformed reaching out to unlimited dimensions. The transformation and consequent perfect happiness start in this very life before its completion in the after life. On the contrary, those who repose their hope only in this world are limited by sheer finiteness and transitoriness that are characteristics of the present world.
There is a detail added in Matthew's Gospel about a person at the feast without wedding clothes. It was a wedding feast of the king's son. When the king came to inspect the guests, he ws surprised that a person without the wedding clothes was able to enter the venue and asked him how he got in there without those special clothes. He was ordered out and thrown into the darkness outside of misery and unhappiness.
This detail is surprising in many ways. He was among those who were broght into fill the empty places in the king's palace because the formally invited guests refused to turn up. In a sense, he was forcefully brought in for the happiness of the king and his son and was ejected as he was not attired in wedding clothes. At such a short notice, how did the others manage to find the wedding clothes? Some interpreters say that the clothes were provided at the gate free and this one might have scaled the wall in a hurry to get in! The wedding clothes represent God's graces freely given to everyone.We have to only humbly accept them and order our lives accordingly for attaining perfect happiness. Again, the king seems to have gone overboard in punishing the person mercilessly who was brought in for the sake of the king's happiness.
The solution to the above problems need not be sought in particular interpretations of the texts in each detail.The intended effect of the parable is cumulative to induce its shock-value for greater truths. It should be seen in the wider contexts of the two world-views, for example, of those who believe in the after life and those who don't. Perfect happiness reaching out to eternity as against sought after happiness bounded by the confines of this world!
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